


The Set Up

by Yellow (Caverdash)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:34:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27843826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caverdash/pseuds/Yellow
Summary: Draco and Astoria go on an awkward first date, but it ends well
Relationships: Astoria Greengrass/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	The Set Up

“Have you been to this restaurant before?” Astoria asked, draping her cloak over the back of her chair before taking her seat.  
  
“No.” He didn’t care how brusque it sounded.  
  
“I hear it’s very good,” she replied smoothly, unperturbed by his tone. Draco didn’t bother to answer; he was too busy looking around for a waiter to flag down. If he had to sit through this dinner, he might as well be drunk.  
  
“Sir?” said the nearest waiter, bending at the waist.  
  
“Vodka martini, dry.” Draco ordered, even as he was already waving the man away. The waiter hovered uncertainly.  
  
“Uh, and for the lady?”  
  
“I’ll just take a water, thank you.” She smiled apologetically and the waiter bowed again. “My mother tells me you’ve only just come back to England. You’ve been doing work abroad for Gringotts, now?” She leaned forward, one perfectly manicured hand hovering coyly by her cheek. It had been years since he’d last seen her. She was pretty, in a boring, conventional sort of way. Bland, Draco immediately dismissed.  
  
“Mm.”  
  
“I work as an apparition instructor.” Astoria said, after a beat, when it became clear that Draco had no intention of asking.  
  
“How fascinating.”  
  
“It really is. You wouldn’t believe some of the splinchings I’ve seen. Truly horrific. But I imagine you’ve seen some interesting things yourself, working with the goblins? They’ve a curious culture.” The waiter returned and rather than answer, Draco opted to guzzle his drink. He waved the empty glass and the waiter whisked it away again. Astoria ignored all this and opened her menu. “Hmm… difficult decision. Should I get the dragon meatballs or the fettucine?” Draco could not think of a single thing he gave less of a shit about. He grunted noncommittally. The waiter returned with his second martini.  
  
“Let me tell you about the specials this even—”  
  
“No need. We’re ready. She’ll have the… what did you say? The lasagna?” Draco continued without waiting for confirmation. “And I’ll have… spaghetti.”  
  
“Uh, the Spaghetti Bolognese or the—”  
  
“Yeah, that’s fine.”  
  
Astoria folded her menu shut with a tight-lipped smile and thanked the waiter. “So,” she tried again. “Does your work often take you abroad?”  
  
“Some.”  
  
“Anywhere interesting?”  
  
“Not really.”  
  
“What sorts of things do you enjoy? When you aren’t working?”  
  
“I’m always working.”  
  
“Do you like quidditch?”  
  
“Not anymore.”  
  
“What was it like attending university in the US?”  
  
“Fine.”  
  
“Did they know over there how you tried killed Albus Dumbledore as a teen?” Draco nearly choked.  
  
“Excuse me?”  
  
“Ah, that got his attention. I was only wondering if they had heard all the sordid details of your time at Hogwarts even across the pond.” Draco stared; glass poised halfway to his lips. It was warm in the restaurant and the collar of his shirt was chafing uncomfortably.  
  
“That’s rather rude.” He set his glass back down, entirely discomfited. Astoria smiled sweetly.  
  
“You started it.” He glared at her, but she only stared back, amused.  
  
“It wasn’t like that.” He said finally, voice tight. Draco was used to people whispering behind his back or worse, smiling at him knowingly, but people usually had more tact than to say anything to his face. “You-know-who was at my manor. He had my family. I only did what I was forced to. To keep them safe.”  
  
“Ahh.” Archly. Infuriatingly. “I’m not a reporter, you know. You don’t have to give me the PR line.”  
  
Draco looked away. “I don’t have to defend myself to you.” Astoria laughed.  
  
“None of your arguments would stick anyway. I think our families know each other too well for that.” Draco was starting to wish he hadn’t downed his first drink so quickly. It was stronger than he expected, and he felt like it had left him at a distinct disadvantage.  
  
“Why did you even come to this dinner, if you’re only going to harass me?”  
  
“Why, precisely to harass you!” She said with bright enthusiasm. He wondered how he had missed it before, the wicked gleam in her eye. “Oh, come now, Draco. Pull your wand out of your ass. I’m only teasing.”  
  
“How very droll of you.” She rolled her eyes.  
  
“Why do you think I chose the most expensive restaurant in London. I never would have gotten a table without your name. Why did you come? You clearly don’t want to be here.”  
  
“I came as a favor to my mother. She’s under the impression that the younger Greengrass daughter would make a nice match for me.” He sipped his drink and pursed his lips at her. “Obviously she doesn’t know you very well.”  
  
“Au contraire, I’ve been known to join Narcissa and my mother at the ladies club for a game of bridge, here and there. I get in for free and they have nice sandwiches. Besides, I came prepared to be perfectly polite before you showed up being a massive prick. Anyway, I’m surprised to hear you’d still do any favors for your parents.”  
  
“I said my mother, not my parents.” He snapped. Astoria sighed.  
  
“Maybe I should have ordered a drink after all.” They sat in uncomfortable silence. Draco finished his second martini and waved the waiter over again.  
  
“I’ll have another, and she’ll have…”  
  
“I’ll have the same, except make mine with gin, please.” They lapsed back into silence. Somehow Draco found this even more unbearable than her chatter.  
  
“How’s Daphne?” He asked, finally, to break the tension. He winced as soon as it was out of his mouth, remembering belatedly his mother mentioning that Astoria’s older sister had been admitted to St. Mungo’s. It was exactly the reason Narcissa had selected the younger sister as a potential match. It was more than likely that Astoria would end up the sole heir of the Greengrass fortune. He’d meant it as a throw away question, but most like he’d inadvertently started on a serious topic instead.  
  
“She has good days and bad days. The healers don’t think she’ll last much longer than this year, though.”  
  
“I’m sorry,” he said, truthfully. He and Daphne had been amicable in school. She was the only Slytherin girl in his year that still treated him decently after he had unceremoniously dumped Pansy Parkinson. “They don’t know what’s wrong with her?”  
  
“Oh, they know. They just don’t know how to fix it.” Luckily, she didn’t seem to care to elaborate further and they paused while the waiter set down their food. Astoria held up her plate. “Trade me.”  
  
“What? No, I don’t want lasagna.”  
  
“Neither do I, but you ordered it for me anyway, you ass.” Draco rolled his eyes but traded away his spaghetti. He supposed he deserved it. “So, since we’ve talked about that time you almost committed murder and my dying sister, surely now we can find something else to more suitable speak about. At least until I finish this spaghetti. I’ll let you off the hook for dessert—this was more awkward than even I could have predicted.” Draco snorted in agreement.  
  
“How’s my spaghetti?”  
  
“Delicious. I particularly enjoy how it’s seasoned with your saltiness. How’s the lasagna?”  
  
“I’ve had better. It’s got nothing on the lasagna I had in Florence.”  
  
“Oh, of course you’re one of those!” She exclaimed with accusatory delight. She affected a stuffy, posh accent. “I’m Draco Malfoy and no matter what you serve me I’ll always have had something better somewhere else. This water is from the fountain of youth, you say? Well, it’s nothing compared the water I drank out of Merlin’s dick.” Draco shook his head at her and arched an eyebrow.  
  
“Have you ever had lasagna in Florence?”  
  
“No.” She was chortling.  
  
“Then stop embarrassing yourself.” She laughed again.  
  
“I forgot how funny you are. Especially when you’re not trying to be.”  
  
“Well I’m glad someone is having fun.” The alcohol had made a warm pool in his stomach, and he could feel it spreading and branching out through his veins.  
  
“So how is it, really, being home after all this time?” She asked. “It can’t be easy.” Draco sighed.  
  
“I’m not sure, yet. I let my flat go when I left, so I’ve been staying at the manor. I definitely need to get out of there as soon as possible.” He quirked his mouth at her. “My mother has a tendency of guilting me into dates.”  
  
“Oh,” said Astoria, loftily. She waved her fork. “That doesn’t stop if you move out. That’s how I ended up here too.”  
  
“Wonderful.” He thought for a moment. “If you must know, I wasn’t thrilled to come back. I liked the anonymity of being away. Everyone here is so…”  
  
“Inbred?” She supplied and he laughed despite himself.  
  
“Yeah.” The conversation fell into a natural lull as they ate. “So,” he began after a while. “Apparition instructor, huh? That’s… a choice.”  
  
“Don’t judge. It’s easy, pays well, and I only have to work 3 months out of the year—when the 6th years are preparing for their exams.”  
  
“And what do you do the rest of the year?” She grinned at him, cheekily.  
  
“Whatever I want.”  
  
When the waiter returned to clear their plates, Astoria asked about the dessert menu.  
  
“I thought you were going to let me off the hook for dessert.” He found he didn’t really mind that she hadn’t.  
  
“Yeah, I meant we didn’t have to eat it here, together. I’m definitely getting it to go, though.”  
  
“So, what you’re saying is that you aren’t going to share.”  
  
“Oh, now he wants to be chummy! When there’s dessert involved.” She’d managed to coax a small, if resigned, smile. He held his hand out for the menu.  
  
“Let me see.” They bickered over which dessert to order, and in the end, could only agree to narrow it down to three choices. Draco ordered all three and another round of drinks. What the hell, he thought. It had been a long time since he’d been with someone who laughed so easily that he didn’t also want to strangle.  
  
An hour later, they stood shivering on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. “Well, Mr. Malfoy. Thank you for a somewhat tolerable evening.” Draco clutched at his chest.  
  
“That was an incredibly pricey ‘somewhat tolerable’ and you’ve made off with all the leftovers.” Her breath plumed the air as she laughed.  
  
“It was good seeing you, Draco. Truly.”  
  
“Mm.” She was already walking away down the street. Draco bit his lip, considering. “Astoria.” She didn’t stop, but spun in stride, continuing to walk backwards. He cocked his head towards the bar across the street. “You want to get another drink with me?”

He had his hands in her hair, her tongue slipping into his mouth even as he backed her towards the building of her flat. “Ow,” she giggled as he bumped her against the door.  
  
“Sorry,” he mumbled against her lips.  
  
“Pause.” Astoria pushed him back a fraction of an inch so she could dig in her purse for her keys. She turned toward the lock and clicked it open. Draco hesitated at the threshold.  
  
“You are inviting me up, right?” They had had another drink at the bar across the street. And then another. And then so many more that he’d lost count. It made him a little slow on the uptake. She only grinned and dragged him inside by the front of his shirt. They stumbled their way up the winding steps, kissing and snickering, her fingers already struggling with the zipper of his jacket. After what felt like an eternity, they at last burst into her flat and the door had barely slammed shut before she pinned him back against the wall. She made short work of the rest of the zipper, and soon both his jacket and her cloak lay in a discarded heap on the floor.  
  
She tasted like gin and vermouth, the juniper bitter and biting. Draco hated gin, but it didn’t matter. Her hair cascaded through his fingers, slipping against his skin like satin. He pulled her closer, melting against the warm press of her body and when she slipped a hand down his pants he moaned, embarrassingly. He was so distracted he almost didn’t notice her other hand undoing the buttons of his shirt until it was too late. He caught it halfway and captured her questing fingers with his own. “Shirt stays on.” Astoria pulled back, bemused.  
  
“What? No. I’m not having weird shirt sex.” Her fingers resumed worrying at the buttons. Draco shifted, letting his arms fall from her waist to cross in front of his chest. The right hand brushed against his upper left forearm where he could feel the cold patch of skin, even through his shirt. Astoria tilted her head back and clicked her tongue.  
  
“It’s not like I don’t know what’s under that sleeve, just because you keep your shirt on.” Draco cast his eyes down, staring instead at their discarded outerwear. He could feel the moment regrettably slipping away, but he wasn’t sure how to salvage it. Astoria sighed. She uncrossed his arms and stepped back in, close.  
  
“Fine.” She grabbed him by the chin and turned his face back towards hers. But instead of kissing, she nipped at his lip, biting it back so far that when she finally released it snapped back into place with a wet pop. It made him ache with want. He let out the breath he’d been holding. “Come with me.” Tugging him by the hand, she led him through the living room and into her bedroom. She ran a finger through her hair, dragging it off the nape of her neck to expose the zipper of her dress. Draco was more than happy to oblige. He placed a kiss between her shoulder blades that made her shiver. In one fluid motion, she stepped free of her dress and pulled him down with her onto the bed.  
  
When they’d finished, Draco pushed himself up, an elbow planted on either side, so he could look down at her face. Her cheeks were flushed, hair mussed, panting. Thoroughly debauched. “So, Ms. Greengrass.” He bit his lip. “Somewhat tolerable?” She tilted her head back against the pillow and laughed breathlessly. He seized the opportunity to kiss her exposed neck and she sighed. Somewhere along the way he’d lost himself completely in the moment. His shirt had ridden up and she’d clawed at his back. He’d reached back himself and bypassing the buttons entirely, pulled his shirt straight over his head. He was surprised to find he didn’t even care.  
  
“I’d say so.” She said, and he kissed her again, on the lips this time. “What will our mothers say, when you don’t go home tonight?”  
  
“Nothing. I presume they’ll be too busy already picking out our wedding cake.”  
  
“Mmm. I think it’s a bit premature for that. I might need to test out the goods a few more times, before I decide.”  
  
Draco laughed. “Is that right?”  
  
“Merlin’s saggy left testicle, did I just hear Draco Malfoy laugh? I mean, I always knew my vagina was magic, but…”  
  
“You’re insufferable.”  
  
“What, you’ve had better in Florence?” Draco sniggered.  
  
“Oh, please stop. I can’t believe they let you teach children.”  
  
“Honestly, neither can I. I truly despise the little bastards.”


End file.
